Archive for the ‘Disasters’ Category

The news of Osama Bin Laden’s death has spread like wild fire, flooding the airways. Technology has allowed the news to spread as rapidly as it has across the globe.

Obama’s speech has been shown via youtube, reblogged via twitter and played on the news. It is said to be seen as a speech that will go down in history,that this event will forever be remembered. Obama’s speech regarding Osama Bin Laden:

”Justice has been done”

Obama used youtube in his campaign and has used it the internet once again to spread the message rapidly. He gets his message across and creates a sense of victory and unity.

This quickly spread to facebook, immediately groups were created such as

The Herald Sun wrote of the world leaders welcoming the death but warning of a revenge attack. They added a video (which is by the australian) which shows images of 9/11 combined with a voice over announcing that Osama Bin Laden is dead, video plays in the background of Aljazeera with subtitles showing him justifying 9/11 and then a clip of 9/11. A crowd is then shown cheering and celebrating Osama’s death and cheering ‘USA’. The video evokes a sense of justice and nationalism. Quotes are used from a variety of country figureheads all supporting his death. The article definately aims at creating a sense of rage at the attacks on America and a sense of justice at Osama’s death.

The ABC like the Herald Sun cover the angle of welcoming Osama’s death however they talk of the restrained reaction in Europe. Similar to the Herald they talk of the death as a step against terrorism, however the focus remains on a continuing battle and a possible attack in reaction to the death.

The Wall Street Journal used a soldiers point of view drilling home the idea of relief,victory and justice. The common theme in the articles is summed up by these quotes used:

”I’m worried about retaliation, but I’m happy.”

“I feel a sense of relief”

”It’s a win psychologically. I do feel safer.”

Viewing of the Osama mission

The Telegraph had ‘live coverage’ adding pictures of the event. The telegraph has an extensive timeline with video’s and pictures of media coverage,jokes made and quotes. People around the world adding things to tumblr such as showing Obama and Hilary Clinton viewing the mission:

The amount of articles,tweets,facebook status’s, youtube videos, tumblr posts and news reports doesn’t comprehend the immense amount of media coverage and the speed at which the news spread. Social networking, technology and the internet has allowed this issue to be known world wide and is a perfect example of technology playing an important role in society.

Everything these days is connected to the internet,its the one thing linking everyone, particularly social networking. Although the Japan disaster was a while ago, i was reminded today of the disaster through tumblr. A wide variety of people, particularly teens use social networking sites. When tumblr stopped working this popped up:

This is reaching a younger and wider audience, raising awareness and asking for help. It was quite bizarre to see this at first as it was incorporated with the over capacity notice but as you look into it there is everything from newspapers to blogs that covered this issue. This is because it is a conflict and has human interest. It’s not recent, as in the past week but things such as the tumblr message remind us of the impact and consequence of the disaster.

The international business times used elite persons (Lady Gaga and Charlie Sheen are mentioned) in their article to add interest and importance to the story highlighting the outreach internationally. They add in a quote from the Chinese Premier

“We will provide more as Japan needs it and we want to continue to help as necessary.”

and goes on to mention the other countries sending aid. The article also mentions how Lady Gaga has created bracelets that will support Japan, also how Charlie Sheen and P Diddy use twitter to raise awareness. The focus mainly being on elite persons and their role in the disaster. The article goes into depth about the technologies and how they were used in relation to the disaster.

BBC News chooses to focus on how the UK charities are helping Japan. They include the quote:

People’s desire to help is overwhelming and understandable”- DEC spokesman.

The issue in the article is that the British want to help Japan but are limited in their actions until Japan asks for more help. Unlike the Business Times the BBC mentions Japans position in the world, the position in the economy, the charities supporting the disaster and problems that might arise when helping Japan.

The New York Times covered the Japan disaster from the citizens point of view and how they used social networking. The article shows a picture taken from a citizen that posted a picture on their twitter. The article uses tweets from different people as examples, however the article mentions that the majority of Japan use Mixi and only 2% of the population use facebook emphasising the different technologies and social networking of the country. The article differs from the previous two as the focus of technology is mainly on Mixi and twitter while the BBC focuses on Britain and the charities (less technology) and the business times mentions a variety of technologies and focuses on elite persons.

The Australian covered the issue focusing on how technology is being used as a lifeline in the times of crisis while Computerworld covers how the Federal Government created the DFAT as a tool for Australians to help Japan, the technological way to help.

Mashable reveals 7 ways to help Japan via technology while One Green Planet lists 10 ways to aid Japan victims, these are less technological ways.

Basically all of these articles reveal the need to help and how the internet, technology and social networking has allowed society to become more involved and opened up new ways to help. The issue is covered from the citizens point of view to Australians to the business side of the disaster, all of this aims to highlight the role of technology in all aspects.

New technology and gadgets are constantly emerging from iphones to ipads as well as issues about the way they are used and how they affect the world, the media seems to offer different angles. The main concerns of consumers are how much they cost,are they worth purchasing , what are the faults and what are the improvements.

The media has taken full advantage of societies interest. This is evident in the release of the ipad2. The faults and improvements are argued thoroughly through different media. Faults, flaws and talk of an ipad 3 are one angle taken while a more technical and helpful aspect informs the audience of battery life, applications and other tests. The Detroit Free Press points out all the problems and developments but focuses more on the advantages.

Different people have different opinions which means the media covers a range of aspects of the product. Alternative approaches and angles are taken but all conform to what the consumer wants. The main concerns are the problems with the phone and the cost as well as how the product connects the user through social networking, calling, messaging or skyping. Its important that the media covers this product and its issues because its a source of communication and connecting to eachother. Technology closes the issue of space and time but now its more of a competition to have THE BEST product that has the most advanced technology creating the arguement of advantages and disadvantages. There is always going to be a problem found by the competition who can use this to their advantage (For example the ipad vs the rivals article) . The media’s insight into this helps the public understand which benefits their decision making into what commucation device to buy.

The media also covers how these devices linked to social networking have helped natural disaster situations. By covering news about new gadgets, it raises awareness of the functions [social networking,connecting]. The latest disasters in Christ Church and Japan are prime examples of media technology coverage, mainly the role in which it has aided families. CBS News highlights googles role in helping Japan’s struggle as well as twitter promoting a new movie, the selling of the iPad2 and issues with amazon and xbox. This is a perfect example of how the media is covering technology and the range of topics involving social networking,disasters, communicating and the interaction of these components. Not only covered indiviually as nations but internationally covered, evident in the international news coverage. This highlights media’s coverage of twitter, google and other social networking sites involvement and how it has affected the world and how we handle these situations. It all comes down to connecting and communicating with and through the use of technology. The media uses the technologies and covers these issues and situations highlighting the disadvantages and advantages of the gadgets themselves, the use of social networking and how it affects society.